Kamala Harris is gaining ground in Texas, historically a Republican stronghold, as she closes in on Donald Trump’s lead, according to a recent poll by the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs. The Democratic candidate now trails the former president by a mere five points.
Back in June, the same poll indicated a nine-point difference between Trump and President Joe Biden. This shift comes as Harris has surged ahead of Trump in numerous national and state surveys following Biden’s decision to conclude his reelection campaign last month.
These evolving numbers in Texas are likely to energize Democrats, as the state hasn’t swung in their favor in a presidential election since Jimmy Carter’s victory in 1976.
The poll found that 49.5 percent of likely voters intend to vote for Trump, compared with 44.6% Harris. Yet the Harris campaign has already signaled that it will focus resources elsewhere, in part because of the high cost of advertising in the state.
‘At the end of the day, our responsibility as a presidential campaign is to ensure we get to 270 [electoral votes],’ campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said at an event at the Democratic National Convention. ‘I would love to get to a bigger number than that, but that is all we care about.’ Harris has wiped out Trump’s six-point lead with women during the past two months.
However, he still holds an 18-point lead among men. In the state’s U.S. Senate race, 46.6 percent of Texas likely voters intend to vote for Republican Ted Cruz, while 44.5 percent say they are supporting Democrat Colin Allred. These proportions are essentially unchanged from those in the June survey.
Harris has just enjoyed a week in the limelight. She was crowned by her party at its Chicago convention. Her campaign will hope that translates into a further poll boost.
Trump spent the week traveling across battleground states for a series of policy speeches. On Monday he was in Pennsylvania to talk about the economy. On Tuesday it was Michigan and law and order.
On Wednesday, it was national security in North Carolina, and a day later he was at the Arizona border. A DailyMail.com poll shows that he should benefit from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to suspend his campaign on Friday.
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